About

With over 25 years’ experience in the design industry Graham Black specialises in art directing editorial publications for some of the biggest and most respected brands in publishing, including TheFT, The Economist and The Observer. Previously his agency experience focused on the music industry, designing record sleeves, advertising and marketing campaigns for Virgin, EMI, Sony and the Mercury Music Prize amongst others.

With a strong track record in both launching and redesigning magazines and newspapers he also oversees the extension of brands through special supplements and one-off promotions. Most recently, this has included migrating print publications into new digital incarnations for the web and mobile devices.

Particular areas of expertise are in the arts, culture, sport, literature and current affairs. His design approach is to employ powerful, sophisticated and striking typography, photography and illustration that reflect the brand values of a publication or organisation and its position in the marketplace.

After many years of commissioning he has built up a contact book that includes many of the finest reportage, portrait, sport, fashion and travel photographers in the world, and also many of the best illustrators.

He recently relocated to St Buryan near Penzance in Cornwall to develop his printmaking practice. His affinity with West Penwith’s rugged coastal landscape motivates and underpins much of his work. Abstract images of the rocks and pebbles discovered on his daily walks, surfs and bike rides around Land’s End are a major influence, as are the twisted, distorted Monterey pine trees that inform his Japanese-woodblock-inspired prints.

He works predominantly with silkscreen printmaking but increasingly eschews the traditional mechanical approach to this process by deliberately painting pigment directly onto the screen to create spontaneous inking effects, rendering each of his prints unique.